Posted on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 4:38pm

Way back in 1995 when I was fourteen, I decided I wanted to make a JRPG. I really loved Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana games on my Super Nintendo, and I thought hey, if an experienced team of adult Japanese people can make JRPGs, why can't one kid who lives in Montana and knows QBASIC for DOS do it?

Needless to say, it didn't turn out so well. But I didn't give up - over the next 8 years, I tried 13 different times to build the game, enlisting my friend Bryan Sawler to help. We built incomplete versions of the game for DOS, Windows, Game Boy Color, and even Gamecube. And then Bryan and I got jobs in the game industry and started working 80 hour weeks to make the next big movie tie-in games over and over. We were livin' the dream!

Early Ogden and a ninja, because why not a ninja?

The game sat untouched from 2002 to 2010, when my father passed away. Looking at Dad's lifetime of achievement, I realized all I'd done with my career was make a bunch of crappy movie license and mobile games for other people. I decided then to work on the game again early in 2011, enlisting the aid of my coworkers at our indie studio, Muteki. Bryan, Bill, Kevin, and I built the first chapter of Dragon Fantasy in just a few months. We released the first version of the game on August 23rd, 2011, and dedicated it to my Dad - the main character, Ogden, is based on him.

Gamecube version of The Woodsman, when he was going through his Steampunk phase - c’mon, we all did it.

Since then, Dragon Fantasy has evolved quite a lot! Eventually three chapters were made, plus a silly Minecraft-themed intermission, a 16-bit mode, and even a sequel! I have never stopped working on the game, because it is a labor of love, and it is a big part of who I am. Every time I've thought of a feature that I wished the game had, I've added it. It's become bigger and better and taken on a life of its own. And now, thanks to Choice Publishing, it's coming to the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U on July 23rd!

Hatless Jerald and the voidstone, from about 2001

This is a Big Damn Deal for me, because the game was always inspired by RPGs on the NES and SNES. Having the game on two Nintendo consoles just feels super, super rad. And they're not simple ports, either - both platforms support dual screen play (optional on Wii U), I added a bestiary, a quest log, mode 7 3D, and a bunch of other stuff!

An early sketch of Sandheim from about 2002

So, with extremely great joy, I invite you to check out the newly remastered Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria on 3DS and Wii U! Pick either one you want, because it's cross-buy! Have fun slaying monsters!

Posted on Thursday, July 2, 2015 - 5:08pm

Posted on Monday, June 15, 2015 - 2:37pm

As many of you are likely aware, the BIT.TRIP series tells a story. We don’t often talk about that story—nor do we tell people they’re right or wrong when they theorize about it—but it’s there.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, some people have begun to wonder if all of our games fit into this story. Again, we’re not going to say one way or another if that’s true, but it’s always super interesting for us to see what people come up with.

Last Friday we received one of the most out-there, elaborate theories about our games to date. It comes from Ganon95, a longtime BIT.TRIP fan who’s made some great remixes of BIT.TRIP and Woah Dave! tracks. He reached out to us and informed us he thought that Woah Dave! and Destructamundo fit somewhere in the BIT.TRIP canon, and we couldn't resist asking him to elaborate on that. We’re going to paste his entire theory below, but our sharing it here should not be considered an endorsement. We just thought it was too fun not to share.

If you have any crazy theories about our games, definitely let us know! We’ll share the best ones here on our site!

“Woah Dave! Deluxe is seen from Dave Lonuts perspective.

Mingrawn Timbletot is the one behind the alien invasion in Woah Dave! Dave Lonuts is caught up in this mess when he is abducted and mind controlled into believing he is fighting an alien army when in reality he is helping them destroy the world.

Dave and CommandgirlVideo are married in Deluxe, however this is not the same CommandgirlVideo from BIT.TRIP. They have a kid named Jr. Melchkin, but this is not the same Melchkin from BIT.TRIP.

CommandgirlVideo and Jr. Melchkin were with Dave when he was abducted and were also put under mind control.

The alien invasion eventually ends in a retreat and everyone who was under the affect of the mind control returned to normal. nobody believed they were abducted and due to their crimes against humanity, they were sentenced to death after the events of Dave Deluxe.

Jr. Melchkin was sent to live with his grandparents. He does not remember much about what happened.

Dave Lonuts is CommanderVideo’s father.

Jr.Melchkin from Deluxe is CommanderVideo himself and the events of WD take place before BIT.TRIP CORE but after BIT.TRIP BEAT. The first cutscene of CORE is Jr. Melchkin moving in with his grandparents. After the events of WD. They end up changing his name from Jr. Melchkin to CommanderVideo.

The entire 6-game BIT.TRIP series is seen from CommanderVideo’s perspective and the cutscenes are all actually CV’s memories of his life which all flashed before his eyes at the end of FATE before he died.

Because the first cutscene in CORE took place when he was very young he doesn't remember it clearly.

There is a several year gap between discovery and exploration.

CV grew up with his grandparents and has some memory of his mother, the CommandgirlVideo from Dave.

In RUNNER he meets up with a kid who reminds him a lot of himself, Jr. Melchkin. Because the game is seen from his perspective, Jr. Melchkin looks like he did when he was younger.

Later on he meets up with a girl who has a lot of character traits that remind him of his mother, so he sees her as that… Commandgirlvideo.

By the end of FATE, CommanderVideo learns that Timbletot was the reason why his father, Dave, was sentenced to death. At first he forgives him but he ends up losing control of his emotions. This leads to the events of FLUX.

Mr. Robotube from Woah Dave! Deluxe is the same one that appears in BIT.TRIP 5 and 6. He and Dave Lonuts were good friends. He was also abducted and mind controlled.

After the events of Dave he avoided his death sentence by creating and hiding in a special suit for a very long time.

Radbot.

An interesting extra bit:

Adoma was inspecting earth to blow up for resource gems during the events of Dave. He got briefly involved then disappeared. Nobody knows what happened to him, but he never destroyed earth.

Destructamundo takes place on the same timeline for Dave. Some of the planets being destroyed are not far from earth. (After the events of BIT.TRIP FLUX this caused catastrophic world events, Earth becomes uninhabitable.)

Bloktom is Dave’s imaginary friend that could be real. Dave met him when he was a child, and he still exists inside his head. Dave believes he is real and sometimes, he might be.

Dave!? is a Dave Lonuts that exists in another reality. The situation is exactly the same as Dave’s, except his colors are reversed.